Finding Sympathy
by Skylark Evanson
Summary: "He can build his own life and manage on his own. He doesn't have to be a pawn. Red Arrow doesn't need to be a mole." "Your sympathy is touching, Jade."


**A/N: I love Young Justice. More writing on "Targets" since I rewatched it.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own YJ.**

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"We're using him," said Jade, arms folded across her chest as she watched Red Arrow tell a recording device everything he knew about the young team, the Justice League, and the rest of the heroing business.

"We're playing to our assets," affirmed Sportsmaster darkly, watching through slitted eyes as the boy paced and talked to empty air. "Cadmus created him, the Light commands him. We're just his handlers."

Her eyes watched him anxiously as he did as he was programmed. Red Arrow paced and worked. Jade felt her skin prickling. "He's still a human," she pointed out, almost reaching out to touch him and draw him out of his programmed trance. As soon as he slipped out of this and into his regular walking-breathing state, he'd become dangerous to both of them again. "He shouldn't be used."

Sportsmaster sent his eldest a glare, vicious and condescending. "Don't start getting morals, little girl. You've been bred to be obedient and to honor a certain code. Don't ruin that now or you'll end up dead before morning." His eyes narrowed further. "And I don't want to have to tell your sister that you died due to stupidity."

Her eyes fell to the rooftop's rounded shingles. "Do you have no sense of humanity?"

"Humanity is something to be commanded and controlled. There's a reason no society may live in anarchy for long. We crave leaders. We want to be controlled." Sportsmaster gestured with an open palm to the pacing archer. "He just has clearer orders and a higher chain of command. He's simply another citizen in the government of the Light's creation. This is nothing more than that."

"This is cruel."

"As was your upbringing and your training. Our line of work, Cheshire? And you're questioning the use of another simple human? We're all pawns." A smirk lay invisible beneath his gray hockey mask. Sportsmaster could hear all of the team's secrets and plans, details of the Watchtower's location in space. "You. Me. Artemis. No matter which side we're on, whose control we're under, we're all being used."

"But we can let him go." Jade almost reached out to him, but her awareness of his change if touched or bothered in this state; he would become volatile and incredibly dangerous. "He can build his own life and manage on his own. He doesn't have to be a pawn. Red Arrow doesn't need to be a mole."

"Your sympathy is touching, Jade." He snorted his disdain. "Now imagine if you'd had a little bit of that towards your sister."

Cheshire's heart throbbed for a moment in her chest, the world suddenly seeming heavier. This was another life she could change, a man she could save. It wouldn't make up for Artemis's loss or her hard life, but it would make a difference for Red Arrow. She could help him, show him a different light, let him know that someone cared… "Sportsmaster, we don't have to-"

"It's what pays your medical bills. It pays your sister's medical bills. And your mother's wheelchair? How far do you think this business has gotten us, Jade? Killing people, keeping control, and causing chaos are part of the job. If you can't get on board with that, then you don't belong here. Your sympathy has no place in this world."

She opened her mouth to argue, but the Cheshire smile disguised it. The girl couldn't bring herself to argue. Assassination put her and Artemis through school, kept them fed and healthy, and offered them a roof over their heads. She had no complaints to the simple things that this lifestyle had given them, but she regretted it all the way, knowing how many lives they'd ruined in just earning their own keep.

When had being normal become obsolete? At what point had her father decreed that killing and fighting was the only way to earn a life? And why had she fallen into the same worthless rut?

Jade was no heartless fool. She cared deeply- when she wanted to. Artemis held the biggest place in her heart, the damaged little girl she'd left behind to fend for herself, the little girl she'd left to her father's brutalities. Artemis had been abused because of her abandonment. Jade had left her little sister to die…

And now she was watching this hero, Red Arrow, wither away without even knowing it. He was strong and confident. His demeanor struck her as brave and demanding. She could actually imagine herself in an honest relationship with him. Jade shivered at the thought of commitment or even being close to someone again; contact, that wasn't lethal, terrified her. No way, she couldn't actually do dating. Everything she'd said was a joke anyways.

But she wanted to help him, to free him from this imprisonment of the mind. She could help him. She could find a way to alter his programming, alert the Justice League, help find him some solace, some security. She could play Saving Grace for once instead of Hellbound Hotshot. Jade could give him a chance.

The words from his mouth had stopped. Red Arrow had gone silent and his programming had departed as he stood obediently while waiting for Sportsmaster to take back his recording device with all of the insider information that the Light could ever need to get a step up on the Justice League and their constituents.

"We could help him, Dad."

Sportsmaster let out a choked laugh. "You haven't called me that since you were a kid, Jade. And don't expect it to change anything between us. A job is a job. His life is viable only because of Cadmus. He was born to play this part." The blonde man took back his recording device as Red Arrow returned to his original position, ready for the attack until his final command is given.

"We can help him." She was practically pleading. "He's not just another person. He deserves a proper life. He deserves better than what we had."

"You've read his files, Jade. He has no proper family. He's distant with his mentor now. If he weren't used as a weapon, his life would be completely meaningless. It already is. He's cloned. He's programmed. He's a hopeless mess. Without this 'mission', he's worthless to the world." Sportsmaster was ready to speak Red Arrow's final command and put him back in his safer mental state. "Besides, he's helping to evolve the world in ways none of us could ever comprehend."

"He should have a choice in the matter," Jade chastised. "Just like we should've had a choice in our raising. I didn't ask to be trained as a killer, Dad. And neither did Artemis. We just wanted to be kids."

"And I just wanted to be your father. So I became the best father I could be while keeping you safe and giving you a good home." Sportsmaster's voice went dull and soft. "I didn't want it to go this way either, Jade. I wanted you and your sister raised honestly. But your mother and I couldn't find jobs, so we played to the skills we had. We didn't want to train you either, but part of the deal with the League of Shadows was that we offer them a successor should we perish. You were all we had and when Artemis came along, they wanted her too. And we tried to get you away from it, out of the deal, but they caught us and kept us in our contract." He ran one hand through his hair, almost accidentally pulling his mask off and revealing his true humanity, but he kept it on to shelter his identity and expression. "I did try to better your lives, Jade. And I know you want to help him-" He gestured weakly to Red Arrow, still awaiting further orders. "-but he's bound just the same. He escapes, he'd be dead within a week for betraying the Light."

Jade's gaze found the ground again. She understood, as sick and twisted as that logic was.

"It's better for him this way." Sportsmaster pulled out his weaponry again and stood at the ready, waiting for his daughter to do the same.

Reluctantly, Jade pulled out her sais and prepared to battle this clone again. She would have to keep fighting him and keeping him as a viable resource for their employers. Yet she couldn't help that nagging urge that kept begging her to release him from his trance and wake him into the real world, the world that would only hurt him.

"Broken arrow."

The world suddenly restarted itself like no time had passed at all…

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**A/N: Review?**

**~Sky**


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